and Your Smile Drives Me Wild
by Stolen.Pseudonyms
Summary: Sequel. With the death of Old Deuteronomy a chain of events is set off and the junkyard is thrown into chaos. Will Munkustrap restore order? Will Tugger escape to finish the fight with Mungojerrie? and what exactly IS Macavity planning? I'M BACK! CH.3!
1. Death

**"And Your Smile Drives Me Wild"**

_**Hey Guys! I'm back with the long awaited sequel to Your Swagger Makes Me Smile. I must comment, above all, that I am especially excited for this story, because it will be a lot darker then it's ultimately fluffier sibling. To be honest, it was merely a few experiment chapters to help test on fanfic, but ever since, it has been positive and supportive response of you guys that had prompted me to keep it going. Yes, you have yourselves to thank for the co-creation of the sequel...snaps for you!**_

**I have some very upsetting news though.**

**_I re-writing this chapter because, as always, NOTHING goes well for me when I'm super excited. I was putting the finishing touches on this chapter (which I was actually very proud of) before the computer lost power for no reason and I, as with these things, LOST EVERYTHING. _**

**_Not to mention, another bizarre event in the life of Maddy including her 10 year old brother, and an airbourne, Kamikaze frill neck lizard with a good set of teeth. It sounds strange, but the bite on my brothers wrist is even stranger._**

**_Either way: I figured, since I had 45 minutes before I have to go to dinner with my family, the night before school/my birthday, and I was very tired, I would post this a day early!_**

**_I must be off now, and unfourtunately I won't be able to revisit this anytime until after tomorrow (Since I'll be busy at school and with my birthday...Which I'm surprisingly afraid of, since I have the suspicion all my friends are planning to jump out of the bushes and sing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU" in front of the entire school) but I re-wrote everything simply because I'm excited about this story, and I didn't want to dissappoint you guys._**

**_Hope I don't!_**

**_My.Psuedonym.Was.Taken  
aka The Bad-Lucked Birthday Girl_**

**_Note: This chapter may appear slightly vague. It is barren of any description and most things, but it is slightly necessary some chapters will be fairly ambiguous on settings and analysis of characters for these next few ideas to run smoothly. You will (hopefully) enjoy them none the less._**

* * *

The nightmare was re-occuring.

The rain.  
The hurt.  
The pain.

The Rum Tum Tugger, above all.

Bombalurina awoke, as she had the past however-many-nights since her breakdown on that dingy rooftop, stuggling for breath against hiccuped sobs. The scarlet queen did little to soften her wails of anguish as she cried continuously. It was unbearable.

_**She was nothing**_, was a mantra that was viciously jeering at her insides, morphing the once confidant Bomba into a crumpled, manically-depressed shell of her former self.

What had changed that day she had seen the mischievious calico Mungojerrie as more then just a friend? What had lead her to spiral into sudden self doubt and to latch onto the affection the Tom offered her, even though it was merely ripping open old wounds caused by her childhood bestfriend/sweetheart...a certain maned, vain, Main Coon?

She didn't want to agree with her subconcious that it was Mungojerrie who had shown her she had never been truly happy. Dozens of repressed memories and emotions crept from within a mental Pandora's box, revealing to her what she had always feared. That she was content, but not happy with her status as a single, female, kittenless Jellicle. The thoughts had eaten away at her relationship with Mungojerrie, her self control around Tugger, and ultimately, they had begun eating away at herself.

She couldn't take any more of the unearthing of forgotten, hurtful memories. Or the neglect from a supposedly-nurturing Jellicle tribe...one she was no longer apart of. Or the inner torment that was the complete loss of self esteem, trust and love that was driving her to the brink of insanity.

She wished more then anything that the nightmares would stop.

Her desperate sobbing continued, masking the creak of the door to her room opening. The sniffles and rasps of her unsteady breath covered the soft padding of gentle feet across the cold floor, and near silenced the gentle, elegant voice cooing soothing comforts into her ears.

•••••

Macavity let his paws slip around the troubled queen, gripping her tightly until she began sinking her body into his. The Napoleon of Crime was doing something completely adverse to his reputation, to his lifestyle, to his very **_nature_**.

He was begging her desperately to stop hurting him.

It hurt more then any of the wounds or scars that had marred his body in the past. It hurt more then any past or present emotion his cold heart had ever felt. It hurt him more then the sense of rejection those kitten's had so stupidly, and unwittingly, validated to him all those years ago.

He just wished to the Heaviside Bombalurina wouldn't torture him with the dissappearance of her smile. He had dreamed so fondly of it for so long, and in his hours of need, a vivid mental picture of a laughing, inviting Bombalurina had been all her needed. The one thing that scared him most of all was her screaming. Since he had found her in the rain that night, so far from the ground of betrayal that was the Junkyard, her sleep-screaming and sobbing would jolt him awake. His heart would beat faster, his speed would inscrease as he bolted to her assigned room (close to his of course) and he would find her, broken from her slumber, but not broken from her nightmare.

Every night, she had screamed, and every night, he would cuddle her into submission, and curl around her protectively. Providing her what little warmth his cold heart could.

Tonight would be no differant, although Macavity desperately wished it would be.

•••••

"Awww...Simba!" The nasal voice of Tugger's owner cooed shrilly from the archway, alerting the tom of the horror that lay ahead. He had only gotten as far as the kitchen's island counter this time.

Damn.

The Main Coon hissed violentally as the click of shiny **pink **stillettos on the pale **pink **floor ganged up behind him, until his entire being was lifted into the air and replaced back on his **pink** daybed.

"Simba!" That demon-spawn chided him loudly, positioning it's face so he could stare at the hideous thing through the plastic cone. "You know you aren't meant to leave your little bed sweetie!" The creature's lips pouted and closed in on him, leaving a sticky **pink **smudge on the side of his muzzle. He gave a distasteful _Mrrr_ in loathing for his circumstance, but that only made his owner giggle.

"Simba...you're such a silly kitty!" She added in a baby voice, getting up of the floor, brushing off her ridiculously short black skirt, eyes filled with some weird amusement at his Houdini like escape plan. He was aching to find Bombalurina, or at least know how she was, but he'd had no contact with the Junkyard since his return to the doom that was **Renee.**

Overbearing, pink, baby-voiced, pink, prissy, pink, girly, pink, "Aw that's so cute!", pink, "Oh my god, no duh!", pink, ditzy, hideously _**pink **_Renee.

Renee may have _loved_ "Simba" but "_Simba_" did not love _Renee_.

She had been watching him round the clock since his initial visit to the vet, and had even gone so far as to trap him in a plastic cone to merely keep him under her thumb. Most cats adored their humans unwavering affection for them, but they had known no wrath such as Renee's. From the moment she'd seen him at the pound (where most animals would get purposfully caught by animal control with intent to be bought by some idiot human, and usually escape if they were scheduled for euthanasia) she'd fallen in love with him, and had to, as she stressed to the overweight attendant "Have him."

Oh, yes. She had him.

She had trapped him in her house for over a month after he was bought, simply because she was so enamoured at the prospect of his prescence in her life. Ever since, he would avoid her at all costs, only dipping in every so often so she wouldn't go looking for him and put up those ludicrous flyers. (Even though. Tugger admitted, that photo of him was a good one)

And now, he wished he could find the strength to crawl over to the cat flap of freedom, and return to the Junkyard. He needed to find Bombalurina and reclaim her trust. He needed to find out what had happened in his absence. He needed to kill Mungojerrie.

It would be a score to settle. But most of all, he wished that he was away from the pink of the house, and back to the beautiful red of Bombalurina right then and there. Pain that had been clouding his mind since his foiled attempt at escape began to dissappear, and a lightheaded feeling replaced it.  
"Aww...I think the medication's making you sleepy..." Renee giggled as she replaced the water in the bowl next to him. Tugger snarled half heartedly as his eyes drooped, making him forget that his owner had drugged his water, and slowly letting him slip into a far more pleasant dream world.

•••••

Munkustrap was in shock.

He'd recooperated fairly quickly after Bombalurina has run from the Jellicles. Since his brother was rushed to his much-loathed owner in hopes he could be saved (He feared that he was alright, but the fact there had been no contact yet was fairly disconcerting). Since the Jellicles were plunged into chaos. Quickly after the twisted turn of events that had transpired days ago, a civial war had seemingly claimed the tribe.

There was Mungojerrie's side: They believed that Mungojerrie was a saint for "saving" Bombalurina from Tugger. Or at least, they felt sympathy on his behalf and secretely agreed with Demeter's angry slip or the toungue, and that Bombalurina had manipulated the sweet hearted calico tom into causing the trouble.

And then there was Tugger's side: They believed that Tugger was innocent. In fact, although sceptical on the basis of his past behaviour, they were more sceptical on Mistoffelees being able to weave such an elaborate tale on Tugger's "framing". He was a great magician and well respected member of the tribe, but not a good liar or storyteller. This all seemed to correlate with Electra and Victoria's story.

Then there was those who had their own sides. Munkustrap fell into this catagory. While Mungojerrie had been arguing angrily with Mistoffelees since Bombalurina's dissappearance, resulting in a few near-fights. Demeter's constant worry and fretting which was eating away at the protector's own mateship with the golden queen, and the suddenly reclusiveness of a select few tribe members, most of which were implicated some way in Mistoffelee's version of the events that had taken place.

The silver Jellicle protector found that none of that seemed to override the grief that settled over the tribe. Admteus was dead. Although he wasn't popular with many of the Jellicles, it had still come as a shock to everyone, and gave them a reason to be even more depressed then they were before.

The tribe was falling apart. Crumbling foundations where all that seemed left to save, and that is why Munkustrap had deceided that he and his last remaining confidant, his brother Alonzo, must finally seek his father for guidance.

Deuteronomy was the last resort to an issue, but 2 missing Jellicles and 1 dead one seemed to be enough of a cause to seek out his father.

With a heavy heart, he turned to look at Alonzo. The tabby was pale, and found he suddenly had no energy to breath. His sibling lifted his eyes to focus on his own - tears already streaming down his handsome black-and-white face.

They both stared at their forboding discovery. Yes. His face was peaceful, as was his position, but the body of their father seemed to chill them to the bone.

Old Deuteronomy was dead.

The brothers continued to stare at their father's corpse. Curled up on a book of nursery rhymes on his human's porch. Even though his death was obviously natural, it did nothing to ease the guilt in his sons' souls, and seemed to add the fate of the tribe on their shoulders.

* * *

**_Bit of a confusing/dramatic/rushed chapter?_**

**I know! and I'm so VERY sorry but I must go now. I have a bus to catch. I'm REALLY SORRY IT WASN'T GOOD!**

**I was so cut when the chapter (which I thought was perfect) was deleted. You have no idea. I just hope this was acceptable. I will most likely go back and edit tonight, or when I actually have time!**

**Love you guys, please review. I had no time to edit, so I just skimmed for stuff, and since I was on wordpad, so the editing will be as bad as some bogan reading Shakespeare to a football stadium.**

**Maddy**

(PS - I hope this chapter doesn't dissuade you from the series! I have a very cool storyline planned out. Lots of twists and turns. Please! Trust me on this one, and don't judge me!)


	2. Change

_****_

Hello my lovelies!

_**It has been exactly 5 months and 21 days since I last updated....which was last year *gasp* **_

_**I know you've all been neglected! I'm terribly sorry. It's been a very hectic few months, and now that I have a spare day on my holidays, I have dedicated it to getting back into the swing of things. This chapter may suck to the 10**__**th**__** degree, but I really have been out of the CATS loop for a while, and here is my first attempt to re-enter it.**_

_**So, while you guys have been drowning in lack-of-update flooding, what's been up with me? Well...it's a Friday. Tomorrow I have an interview at Australia Zoo for my work experience (Which I have been waiting eagerly for) and next Wednesday I'm seeing the matinee of the musical Chicago (another great) with my Nanna. I still have to try get tickets for CATS which is coming to Brisbane, for my friend and I. Not to mention that a few weeks ago I split my head open and knocked myself out in biology (EMBARRASSING) and I've sorta screwed up some disks in my lower spine after an accident late last year...wait. I won't go into that. You guys wouldn't want to know haha.**_

_**Most of my writing time for the past few months has been to do with the re-working of 'Forever; The Fight Was Forged', an original fictional series co-authored by some friends and I. I'm sorry to say that co-written pieces have come before my own, like YSDMW, because there are other people depending on me. If it isn't too much to ask, I'd love for you guys to head over to my fiction press account on my profile page and check it out, just to see how hard a lot of us have worked on re-writing it. We even have a website! [Even though you may be bitter....please visit us. Check my profile for all the links!]**_

_**Argh! Enough talking, you guys probably hate me for abandoning you right? You understand...*puppy dog eyes* Don't you? Cest La Vie. Such is a busy fanfic-ers life. Anyways, what's up with you guys? I missed PM-ing for chats with you guys. **_

_**So, on with the show! I'm a little out of wack, as I've explained, so be kind in your reviews. I also had a slight technical difficulty.....some chapters I wrote ages ago were lost when my computer was wiped, and I'm using my Mum's laptop till it's fixed...so, I guess this'll have to do. Here goes nothing...**_

_**My Pseudonym Was Taken.  
aka Maddy. **_

•••••

Lounging ominously on the mattress pile within the shadowy depths of the abandoned factory, The Napoleon of Crime flickered his eyes carefully over the shaky frame of the newer henchcat. This piece of information completely changed everything. The frail looking Siamese cat standing before the notorious villain nodded hurriedly, trembling in the single shaft of sunlight penetrating through the broken skylight. A wispy breeze funnelled through the building, half destroyed in the wake of a fire long ago; the columns sentinels that bore the weight of the thousands of cobwebs weaving a mural against the ceiling. The air dank and musty, the concrete floor cold and dirty, the warehouse was long forgotten by human hands and left as a playground for the feline minions of the great Macavity.

"Old Deuteronomy...dead?" The fiery red paws that struck fear into the city's dingy alleyways, that commanded the underworld from his luxurious post, that left kittens clutching their tails in fear after their mother's relayed the chronicle of his crimes. Flexing his talon-like claws in the musty abandoned, his fur menacingly unkempt as always, Macavity leapt off of the makeshift throne without a parting courtesy to the many followers that hid themselves around the warehouse floor space. Like the words whispered in the gutters, and stories spoken about the street, Macavity found himself chuckle in his dark, guttural growl, and in his own trademark way, he slunk away into the shadows.

"This is perfect..." Macavity began his own siliquae in a husky undertone, expertly winding around neglected office furniture, through barren coffee rooms, and over the lonely linen wares till he was creeping closer to the remains of a small display case. A comforting scent wafted towards him with each silent step, a soothing calm washing over the usually harsh tom in the quiet. Easing the little hinges, pushing the small chunk of wood gently, Macavity smirked as his gaze fell upon the peaceful, plush ball curled upon the cushions inside.

Bombalurina barely stirred as Macavity padded into the tiny cupboard space, manoeuvring until he could feel her warm, tender breathes on the outer shell of his ear. The door smoothly replaced itself shut as Macavity slowly lay his lean orange frame beside Bombalurina's own. Staring at her serene expression, her fur smoothed gently over her relaxed face, her whiskers twitching with the subtle respirations in her sleep.

As he always did when in her presence, Macavity fought against letting the shy, quiet and brooding kitten of his past take over. Even in her deep sleep, she was charming; innocent. In the dingy remains of the crumbling factory, away from the fearful eyes of society, away from the guilt, the pain, the mistakes of the past, from the insufferable jellicles; Macavity was at peace. Alone, unguarded and vulnerable, Macavity let the humble bliss blind him from the evils of the rest of the world. Tentatively, the ginger fiend found his front paw sliding towards Bombalurina's still one. With a caring others would call weakness, Macavity covered her smallish, deep red paw with his own, watching for a reaction in her slumber. Her tail twitched lightly, her ear flitting subconsciously in search of sound, a small whimper uttered as she shifted slightly closer to him in search of warmth.

A warm fluttering coursed through his body as she settled against his chest, tucking her cold pink nose into his fur. Macavity was stiff, not used to such close contact with another, but found he slowly melted into the soft bedding, hoping she wouldn't be awoken by the pounding against his ribcage. He continued focusing his aqua orbs on her still features, staring at her in muted awe. It was then, the cogs of his brilliant, if somewhat wicked mind began to turn.

Old Deuteronomy was dead. Though, Macavity's emotions were far from those of a grief stricken son.

_If_ _he is dead...the Jellicles will be lost. They'll be weakened...without direction, and those brothers..._ Macavity let his famous, mocking smirk twist on his lips at the thought of his once-siblings._ Munkustrap...he acts as though he's strong, though he'll be so busy tending to everyone else he'll soon be consumed by his own_ _fears._ _Alonzo...he has no guts. He'll simply be the stupid young one that gets in the way. He'll be lost too...and the Rum Tum Tugger... _The smirk quickly became a snarl, Macavity's gaze intensifying as he stared upon Bombalurina's face in the darkness_. He'll be out of the picture for a while. The henchcats will be watching him closely...and when he tries to overthrow me I'll finally exact my vengeance. For once, I will get what I want..._

With a guilty glance towards his paw clasping over Bomba's own, he sighed. He had _part of _what he wanted, but surely she would want something too.  
"We're going home...I promise. Things will be perfect..." Macavity clutched her paw tighter, shifting a bit so they were even closer than before. He let her paw rest on his chest as he took his own and smoothed over some of her head fur revelling in the simple action.

It was here, in his private heaven, his sanctuary that he would share with no one; Macavity began to formulate the final plan that would bring his promise to fruition.

•••••

_**Mrrrrr.**_

"Simba! Stop it!" Renee scolded the injured tom for his growl, her meticulously manicured hand barely dodging the vicious swipe from the Rum Tum Tugger's paw. "You can't go outside!" Tugger felt her swift hands sliding underneath his stomach and he was quickly hoisted him high off the ground, and replaced on the tauntingly pink bed by the corner of the kitchen. To think, freedom was merely a few metres from where the bed sat, past the kitchen island and the frame of the hallway that opened to the lounge room.

"Renee!" Tugger hissed as she tried to pat him, "Leave me alone! You've humiliated me enough!" The tom cat shuffled around in the fluffy pink-zebra patterned pet accessory bed. His hope was beginning to falter. Heaviside...it had been days...Weeks...Probably months (Okay, the exaggeration _**might**_ be due to the medication) since he'd last seen another Jellicle, and the memory of the actual fight was fading.

The injuries however, were not. The Rum Tum Tugger had endured stitches, injections, and the hideous cone for what seemed like forever. It was only a matter of time before he would escape from Renee, right the wrongs committed against him in the junkyard, and reclaim whatever was left of him and Bombi.

If only I could get this bloody co-  
..and the cone was gone.  
"See...cone off!" Renee giggled as Tugger spun around to face her in shock to see her waving the frosted plastic in the air, "The vet said you're almost all better and you don't need it..." although, Renee managed to ruin even good news with her baby voice as she cooed over him, "But pwomise you won't scwatch?" Renee puckered her lips and smashed them onto the snout of the misbehaving Main Coon. She gave the tom one last horrific 'kiss' and as suddenly as she had lifted the burden of the cone from the tom, she had alighted to her feet again, leaving him staring at her heels. "Hmm...looks like there's a storm coming." Renee cocked her head like an intrigued puppy, eyeing the kitchen window as she plucked her keys from the bench side bowl, "I'll be home later, 'kay?" She blew him another kiss, which was far better than _**actually**_ getting one, disappearing down the adjoining hallway. Tugger paused, listening for the click of the front door, the whine of her car as she snuffed the clutch before speeding off down the road.

Freedom!

Without the curse of the cone dragging awkwardly across the wood, Tugger found he could walk almost normally, with minimal pain, to the back door. Smugly, he raised a paw to the

Locked.  
_**Mrrrrrrr.  
**_The Tugger however, wouldn't stay a minute longer. It was time to venture into the rest of..._**Renee's house**_. Today was the day he would escape, and today was the day Mungojerrie would get what was coming to him.

•••••

Skimbleshanks stood strong as Jennyanydots crumbled against him in another sporadic fit of crying. She wasn't taking Deuteronomy's death well, although no one was. Demeter sent him a sorry glance as the Scottish railway cat patted his mate's back soothingly. Demeter looked over to Munkustrap was talking with Alonzo, his eyes though determined, looked just as tired and weary.

Munkustrap had tried to call a meeting to calmly break the noise to the tribe himself, although news spreads fast. Half the neighbourhood already knew of the late Jellicle's passing by the time he and Alonzo had returned to the junkyard. Admetus' death had shocked them all, but this one after that was too soon. The already divided Jellicles were confused, and even though Munkustrap tried to console them, it was what he feared most. The tribe was falling apart, and without his father to guide them, to show them, Good Rumpus Cat to teach _**him**_, it appeared that they had lost faith in...everything.

•••••

"Did you feel that?" Coricopat, who came to a halt, questioned to his twin sister Tantomile as they were furrowing through the alley garbage bins in an uninhabited, dusk settled alley. Nightclubs of the district muffled loud beats within the brick walls, long lines of grungy teens wound around parking metres and bus stops as the dreary, stormy sky began to spit down large dollops of chilling water to the murky city streets.  
"You know I did." Tantomile answered, her own voice taking on a foreboding quality as the twins locked amber eyes, her pizza box left un-licked of its savoury meat chunks glued to the lid with cheese. With a wavering tone of trepidation about them both, they remained in a stoic silence, listening to and _**feeling**_ the very wind that howled with gossip and mystery. They could both feel the rush of power, the surge of change within the gusts, which oozed with the tingling of airborne magic.  
"The moon is high tonight..." Coricopat observed from his peak on the dumpster lid, jumping down to join Tantomile.  
"A warning?" Tantomile said it grimly, as more of a statement then of a question. Her brother didn't bother to respond, instead his tail prickled in the wake of another spark. The twins knowingly left their trash cans behind, swiftly ignoring honking cars and their fist-shaking drivers as they expertly sprung from roof to roof, scaling fences, fire escapes merely platforms to quicken their journey back to the Jellicles, where they needed to seek the council of Munkustrap.

What they could feel was urgent, and it refused to be ignored.

* * *

**_Hope that wasn't too dissappointing....But I am slowly returning to CATS mode....(slowly). If anyone wants to check out what took me away from YSDMW (flame if you want) please check out my profile for the link to Forever, on my fictionpress account.  
_**

**PS - Check my profile for the 'Your Smile Drives Me Wild' poll. What do you think will happen in chapter 3? or rather....WHO would you like to see focused on in chapter 3?**

**Renee** _wants **YOU** to join the reviewer army (which is steadily growing)..._

...or she'll curse **YOU** _with wrath of the cone!_


	3. Willing

_**Hello everyone!**_

_**I have returned from the evil forest of obscurity to bring you the update that has been sitting dormant in the sewers of my laptop. I'm so sorry for my uber long absence (ridiculously long in fact...) but I'm hopeful that I can regain my footing in the Cats department, and hopefully regain the trust of my readers.**_

_**I know its been so long since I've written any fanfic, and that is no excuse. I have been through some rough patches in the past few months, and feel like my writing ability has been suffering greatly. I know that some of my old work may not reflect it, but I AM passionate about this. I had been nom-nom-nomed by the evils of other work as of late, although I do plan to transfer some of the Jellicle themed ones over to fanfic (read on!)**_

_**I honestly read through this chapter and am not at all happy with it, but I do offer my apologies and plan to re-spark my passion for this melodrama of mine. I have been revitalised greatly by my awesome friend Meadowlark here on fanfic, and have wonderful announcements! As mentioned before, I have been working on other projects, and will be pleased to introduce you to some of the fanfics Meadowlark and I have planned based on some RPs we have undertaken. I'd never done Role Playing before until I was invited by Meadowlark to join a board with her, and haven't looked back ever since!**_

_**So yes, expect future works, and just to get me back on my paws again...EXPECT A CONTINUATION OF THIS FANFIC! YAY!**_

_**Please ignore any errors. I was naughty and didn't proof read any of this document since it was written ages ago, and I simply just finished it off. I hated the way Bombalurina turned out in YSMMS, but it was necessary for this darker companion piece to begin its montrous spiral downwards into EVIL! Muahah!**_

_**If you can, enjoy and review. I'd love to hear if people are still out there! So, I welcome myself back to you guys with...this!**_

_**Maddy**_

* * *

Believing the lie is always easier then relenting to the truth.

The remains of so many unguarded tears crusted her vision, eyes half lidded in the wake of her fitful slumber. This box; She had become so accustomed to it. The gentle shield it gave her.

Protection.

Something she so desperately longed for, her heart bruised and weary from many a battle.

_Tugger...Mungojerrie..._

Mere fragments of fading hurt flushed her semi-conscious mind.

_**Macavity.**_

His scent lingered in the air, a warmth and familiarity glowing so strongly that she wondered how she could never quite feel it before. He had held her, whispered so lovingly to the tips of her ear, whiskers brushing tentatively at the curve of her shoulder.

He had nurtured her; he had given her a stability she had been seeking from so many other toms, all who passed by in a flitting dream within her memories.

She was craving, aching, _crying_ for affection.

_**Macavity.**_

His staining presence was powerful, commanding, demanding of her undying acknowledgement. Not unlike the small wooden door she had stared at for so long (Days? Weeks? Months?) since her fated meeting with the Napoleon of Crime, it was a feeling. Not a tangible display of authority, not a raised paw to a smart mouth that silenced rebellion, it was merely the shudder the darkness sent down her spine.

Night after night, she had heard his whispering. The soft lullaby of his most honest and tender expressions pouring into her. The loving, honey-smooth words he had woven, a private poem just for _her_. It was like he was sharing part of his heart, and in return he only asked hers would listen.

The door to the box she had holed herself in was slightly askew, no doubt from years of unattended deterioration. The jarring just allowing the cool, truth of light to shaft through. It illuminated the grandeur of the cushions she slept on, the beam of sunlight just touching elegant gold thread woven into an outdated tapestry design.

The affection she had been longing for; It had been given to her by the one she was supposed to fear most, and yet, she was almost at peace with herself.

No.

She was at peace with the _lie_.

The lie she had been fed whilst growing up in the Junkyard. That she was beautiful, that she was special, That she was one of_** them**_.

She was at peace with the events that transpired her last day within the Junkyard. At peace with the disappointment, the cracking of her fragile trust, the shattering of her soulful

It was the purity of that single glimmer on her cushion, which let Bombalurina, finally accept her true place.

A place in a world, not held by a Jellicle. A place coveted by the likes of Griddlebone, of feline gaol groupies, of mischievous kittens that became disillusioned by society, outcasts that sought refuge from a ginger saviour.

Her place was to repay his kindness with her support.

Bombalurina slipped her paw courageously into the crack of the door, the gentle push enough to swing the loose chunk of wood open, blinding her with sunlight she had so sorely missed.

It was Macavity that had brought her back into the light.

•••••

Claws digging voraciously into the rotting wood, Macavity clamped his paws in frustration over the rounded arms of his throne. The once grand rocking chair was now decrepit, useless. Like so many of his followers, it had been cast aside, forgotten by the rest of the world and left to crumble in the shadows of time.

"I can't believe you still aren't getting it!" The mystery cat's famed temper flared at his cowering lackey. Macavity often wondered if their inherent stupidity was the ultimate demise for some of his henchcats in their dismissal from their homes.

"One last time..." He hissed, aquamarine eyes glinting maliciously, the brief wafts of dust that floated aimlessly through the factory clouding him with an enigmatic air.

"Deuteronomy is dead..." The henchcat, a grey, moggy thing, with two different coloured eyes nodded timidly. A long, ugly pink scar ran down its back leg, fur no longer growing there or behind his flea-ravaged ears. He had sought solace in Macavity's ranks, his army of the downtrodden, but merely accepted the scolding of his leader as punishment for his insolence.

"...Being first born, it gives me the right to finally take back what is mine!" Macavity spat, luminous eyes dancing. Macavity's claws flexed in and out systematically, as if mulling over the idea of power themselves. The ginger fiend, mid-sentence, suddenly paused, a beautiful scent wafting along the wind, seemingly in plumes.

"Leave me!" Macavity barked, the nameless henchcat before him scurrying away like a frightened mouse. Bombalurina stepped one dainty hind paw in front of the other, finding her eyes had to adjust to the dusty illumination of Macavity's favourite chamber. The Napoleon of Crime had stilled in his seat, his gaze drifting over her lazily as she approached him, completely at peace with herself – dazed by her want to crush the inherent, damsel in distress weakness within.

"Thank you..." She whispered huskily, finally reaching Macavity's throne and pawing at his shoulders. The wild tom smirked somewhat, face trained well from years of underground poker games, as she slid tentatively closer to him, tucking her scarlet head under the wiry Macavity's cheek fluff.

A single paw alighted from the chair arm, testily running a hairsbreadth away from the queen's waist.

Macavity's mind whirled intensely as he studied the queen curled around him calmly, feeling a gentle tug of sincerity pull away the stitches of his closed heart; opening him, making him more vulnerable then he'd felt in years.

_So she had come to him willingly. _A dark chuckle threatened to weasel its was from his inner soliloquy, though the threat remained unwarranted as he breathed in her heavenly scent.

_So too, would the Jellicles willingly submit to him._

* * *

_Munkustrap wants **YOU** to join the reviewer army!_

_Afterall...he needs all the help he can get._


End file.
